Time Allocation and Feelings of Happiness of Self-Employed Persons – A Gendered Perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on the division of the daily activities of self-employed persons on entrepreneurial activities, unpaid work, leisure time and other activities, and their interconnection to the feelings of happiness (as part of subjective well-being). Modified Time Use Survey (TUS) methodology was used to gather data on division of time and to identify SWB. The 13 groups of activities and 161 self-employed persons were included in the analysis. The results suggest that both self-employed men and women dedicate more than 8 hours per day for paid work. Daily activities during which the highest part of self-employed men and women feel the happiest belong to leisure activities. Unpaid work activities bring the highest feeling of happiness to 12.5 % of self-employed women. Feelings of happiness of self-employed women are more fluctuating during the paid work than feelings of happiness of self-employed men. In the evening, the feelings of happiness of the self-employed women decrease significantly, which could be caused by double burden of self-employed women.